German Foreign Minister Olaf Scholz said Monday that he expects Russia “clear steps towards a de-escalation of the current tensions” around Ukraine, and urged Moscow to take advantage of the open dialogue with the West to do so. At a news conference after meeting for nearly two hours with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Scholz reiterated that Germany is “closely on Ukraine’s side” and promised financial aid.
“We agree on our great concern about the current situation on the Russia-Ukraine border. Military activity on the Ukrainian border has no justification for us. There are no reasonable grounds for such a military deployment,” he said. The German chancellor wanted to reiterate that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine “are not negotiable for Germany.”
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“For Germany it is clear that a new military aggression against Ukraine would have serious political, economic and geostrategic consequences for Russia,” he added, while assuring that he will take this message tomorrow to Moscow, where he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “In the event of a military escalation, we are ready for far-reaching and effective sanctions,” he stressed. If Russia were to violate Ukraine’s territorial integrity again, “we will know what to do,” he said.
Zelensky, for his part, considered a “big mistake” the decision of some Western countries, including the United States and Canada, to evacuate their embassies from Kiev and take them to the west of the country. And he bet on an entry of his country into the Atlantic Alliance. “It is in Ukraine that today the future European security architecture is decided, of which our country is an integral part,” he said. He added that he discussed with Scholz “the need to establish specific legal guarantees that can protect Ukraine.” “We believe that NATO membership would guarantee our security and territorial integrity,” he said.
In this regard, Scholz said now what matters is to promote a de-escalation. “The question about memberships and alliances in practice right now is not relevant, so it’s a little weird to see Russia talking about something that in practice is not on the agenda a big political issue,” he said.
On Germany’s refusal to supply arms to Ukraine, something that causes unrest in Kiev, Scholz only said that his country always reviews all applications and will continue to do so also in the future. The German chancellor did promise Zelensky that Germany will continue to provide financial aid to Ukraine. It specifically announced a disbursement of 150 million euros of a current loan and a subsequent one of another 150 million.
